Marmalade purists would probably shudder at the very thought, but a new breed of makers of the breakfast table favourite are dipping their fingers into a more interesting pot of ingredients to a’peel’ to the next generation of marmalade lovers.
Beer, honey, chocolate, yellow mustard seed and even seaweed all feature in the 2,000 plus jars of marmalade entered from across the globe into the 9th annual World’s Original Marmalade Awards & Festival, which took place this weekend (1st & 2nd March) at Dalemain Mansion in Cumbria, England.
Top golden gong for best homemade marmalade was awarded to 70-year-old Sarah Byrne from Chiddingstone, Kent who used beer from her small family brewery in her ‘Seville Orange Marmalade with Beer’ concoction. Sarah added two pints of Larkins Half & Half (half porter, half traditional ale) to her grandmother’s traditional marmalade recipe. Her marmalade will now be stocked on the shelves of Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.
Comments Sarah: “I’m delighted to have won this award, particularly as this is the first time I’ve made marmalade with beer. It tastes wonderful and not at all like a traditional Seville marmalade. It’s also a fantastic link to our family heritage.”
Other Kent winners include:
Cranbrook Conserves won three bronzes for their Seville Orange with ginger, Bergamot Orange (Italy’s answer to the Seville orange so tangy and bitter in a good way) and Manmade know as Kentish Tawny made with pink grapefruit and orange.
Great Preservations received Bronze for thin cut Seville & a silver for Seville, ginger with ginger wine in the ‘merry’ category.
Wooden Spoon Preserves won bronze for Tangerine & Pink Grapefruit with Malt Whisky & Cardamom Marmalade
To find out more about the awards, click here
